The goal is always prep the room for the beginning of a new year. Make it look fresh and inviting for an awesome group of students .... Make it be organized and functional for all.
This year I went a little further because I wanted to change things up. I (with some awesome help) painted the shelves, rearranged the tables, and streamlined the clutter. I even got a new rug!
My room has been truly transformed .... In a matter of 2 partial days. Which got me thinking ... Why can't all transformations be that easy?
When I set out to tansform myself ... Why is it so much harder than redoing a classroom? Why is kicking a bad habit (ahem ... Nail biting) which I've been trying to do ALL summer so much harder than painting shelves? Why is changing and controlling my thoughts and reactions so much more difficult than rearranging tables and putting up new bulletin boards?
And then it hit me. I transformed my classroom easily this year because I didn't clean the closet. In fact, I have yet to open the closet door.
People, I have lived in this classroom for 10 years (whoa!). The first several years I organized my closet each August. I made sure all the construction paper was sorted by color and neatly stacked. The theme boxes were easy to pull out, everything had a place.
Now?
Now I haven't organized the closet in at least 4 years.
Why not? .... Because I don't want to.
Oh, I could give you lots of reasons (ahem, excuses...).
...... I have kids now. 2 of them. They deserve my time and I don't want to leave them more than necessary at the beginning of the year.
....We got into our classrooms a little later this time around so I didn't have that much time.
....I can still *see* all the colors of construction paper.
....The door still closes.
....Usually nothing falls out when I open the door.
.... It's more important to focus on the parts people see.
.... It's a really time consuming process and messes up the rest of my room.
Those last 4 .... They are hitting close to the real thing.
Closet clean outs are messy. You have to make a bigger mess to clean the mess .... Everything must be pulled out (which clutters all the other spaces), things have to be sorted through, decisions must be made about what to keep and what to get rid of, things have to be wiped down and cleaned off, and THEN what's being kept has to be put back and what's being thrown out has to be carried off ....
It's exhausting. And messy. And sometimes embarrassing for someone to walk in and see.
And maybe *that's* what a real transformation is.
Maybe a real, lasting, transformation of our hearts and minds and habits is way more like cleaning a closet than it is like decorating a classroom.
In Romans 12:2 when it says "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.", we aren't talking about a room facelift. We can't cut our hair, buy a new wardrobe, and call it good like I did when I painted my shelves and rearranged things in my room. This transformation? It's a closet clean out.
In order to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" we have to give our minds space to be renewed. That means we have to pull everything out and sort it. We have to decide what thoughts, what habits, what loves, get to stay .... And which ones have to go. It's going to be time consuming. It's liable to be quite messy .... And parts of it may even embarrass us. But when we're done?
Oh, when we're done we'll realize it was much more important - and worth the effort - than any mere facelift could be.
My shelves won't stay flawless for long. The first day my 4th graders stack their chairs ... There goes that. The bulletin boards will stay neat for a while - but they will fade with time and the picking fingers of kids passing by. If my closet was clean however, I'd be more able to maintain the organizational structure of my classroom and I'd be less likely to clutter it back up.
The problem is, closets aren't the only thing we think "no one can see it with the door closed" about. And when we allow ourselves to think that way about our hearts? Watch. Out.
First of all ... It's not secret.
1 Samuel 16:7 (and numerous other verses) let us know that God sees our hearts: "For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."
And secondly, we won't be able to keep it secret anyway.
Matt. 12:34 reminds us that our words and actions come from the heart "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Furthermore, it is harming us:
Matthew 15:17 reads "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man."
The bottom line is, if we don't transform our hearts - no outward appearance of a transformation will save us.
So, soon, I will dig in and clean out my classroom closet before I run a further risk of it spilling out and messing up my room makeover.
And immediately, I'll dig back in to my own much more personal transformation .... Because when it comes to matters of the heart and mind, there is always more work to be done and growth to be had.
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